IMPLAN Data Components

IMPLAN's annual datasets provide a complete set of balanced Social Accounting Matrices (SAMs) for every zip-code, county, and state in the U.S. These SAMs provide a complete picture of the economy and can be used to generate predictive input-output (I-O) multipliers for estimating economic impacts.

Constructing IMPLAN's annual databases requires gathering data from a large variety of sources, converting them to a consistent sectoring scheme and year, estimating the missing components, and controlling the newly formatted data against other known data to sources to maintain accuracy.

Raw data availability differs with each level of regional resolution. At the national level, nearly all database components are available, while at the state, county, and zip code levels increasingly fewer raw data are available. County-level information is typically available for Employment, Employee Compensation, Proprietary Income, Population, Federal and State Government Finances, and selected wealth data, leaving the remaining county data to be estimated. At the zip-code level, only County Business Patterns (wage and salary employment) and demographic data from the Bureau of Census are available.

Each year, we gather current data at the national level, put it into the IMPLAN data format, and derive new national I-O matrices (use, make, by-products, absorption, and market shares), as well as national tables for deflators, margins, and RPCs. State-level data are then gathered and controlled to the national totals. Next, county-level data are gathered and controlled to the state totals. Finally, zip-code data are gathered and controlled to the county totals.

State, county, and zip-code I-O matrices are not estimated as part of the data development process; rather, the IMPLAN software creates region-specific I-O matrices during the model creation stage. In Figure 24-1, the shaded areas indicate data provided in the IMPLAN data files. The IMPLAN software estimates the remaining cells.

Region Specific Study Area Data

Data that describes the local region can be divided up into the following categories. Some examples of the available data are provided below (this is not an exhaustive list of all available data).

Model Overview Data

Data Year: The economic make up of a study region's economy for a specific calendar year

Population: The number of residents in the region

Households: The number of households in the region

Land Area: The squares miles of land area in the region, net of large bodies of water

Shannon-Weaver Diversity Index: A measure of the region's diversity in terms of the spread of employment across the various IMPLAN sectors

Total Value Added and Total Final Demand: Two ways of measuring the same value, which is analogous to GDP for the region.

Industry-Specific Data

The number of industries for which data is available is based on the current sectoring scheme. This is largely determined by the BEA Benchmark I-O tables. Most IMPLAN sectors can be mapped to NAICS codes, with the exception of construction, which is based on Census Bureau structure types.

Output: The value of Industry production in producer prices. For sectors for which there is inventory, this value includes net inventory change.

Employment: Annual average full-time/part-time/seasonal jobs. This includes both wage and salary workers and proprietors.

Value-Added: Value-added consists of Employee Compensation (EC), Proprietor Income (PI), Other Property Income (OPI), and Taxes on Production and Imports net of subsidy (TOPI).

Taxes on Production and Imports net of subsidy: TOPI includes all payments to government except for payroll taxes and end of year corporate income taxes. This includes sales tax, excise tax, fees, fines, licenses, and property tax. These payment are net of subsidy payments by government.

Institutional Demands

Institutions are the components of Final Demand that consume commodities and drive the local economy. Note that while the BEA denotes sales by institutions as a negative demand, IMPLAN treats it as a contribution to commodity supply.

Households: The consumption of goods and services by Households is traditionally known as Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE). IMPLAN has nine categories of household institutions distinguished by income class.

State and Local Government Education: The operational spending pattern of all levels of public education, from Pre-K to College.

State and Local Government Non-education: Operational Spending Pattern of all other divisions of administrative state and local government. This includes legislature, police, fire, hospitals, prisons, etc. This does not include market driven (enterprise) activities such as sewer, water, power, and public transportation.

State and Local Government Investment: New construction and capital goods expenditures by all levels of state and local government.

State and Local Government Sales: Note that while the BEA denotes sales by institutions as a negative purchase, IMPLAN treats it as a contribution to commodity supply. These are the goods and services sold by government administrative sectors. It includes hospital care, higher education, and timber.

Federal Defense: Operational Spending Pattern of defense agencies which include the military services and Coast Guard.

Federal Investment: New construction and Capital Goods expenditures by all Federal government agencies.

Federal Sales: Note that while the BEA denotes sales by institutions as a negative purchase, IMPLAN treats it as a contribution to commodity supply. These are the goods and services sold by government administrative sectors. It includes timber, lodging, and mineral leases.

Capital: New construction and Capital Goods expenditures by all non-government (private) investors.

Inventory Purchases: Net movement of goods into inventory.

Inventory Sales: Note that while the BEA denotes sales by institutions as a negative purchase, IMPLAN treats it as a contribution to commodity supply. This is the net movement of goods out of inventory.

Foreign Exports: The export of goods and services to destinations outside of the U.S.

Foreign Imports: The import of goods and services from origins outside of the U.S.

Trade Flows

Each data year, IMPLAN runs a double-constrained gravity model to estimate the county-to-county trade flows for each commodity in the IMPLAN sectoring scheme. This data allows for Multi-Region I-O (MRIO) analysis as well as more accurate Regional Purchase Coefficient (RPC) estimates. Please note that access to the trade data themselves is not granted under the standard user license.

Domestic Import: Goods and services imported from other U.S. counties.

Domestic Export: Goods and services exported to other U.S. counties.

Transfer Payments

These are the payments by Value-Added factors to Institutions, as well as Institution payments to other Institutions. This data is an extension to the traditional I-O accounts and make it possible to create the various forms of the Type SAM Multiplier.

National Structural Matrices

National level data that is adjusted and used in every regional model.

Absorption Matrix: Each Industry's purchase of intermediate goods and services (Commodities) in coefficient form. When a sub-national model is constructed, these national coefficients are adjusted to match local area Value-Added data.

By-products Matrix: Each Industry's production of Commodities in coefficient form. Using the region's industry Output, this matrix defines the total value of Commodity production by each Industry.

Deflators: Output deflators indexes of inflation for each Commodity (with the current data year index set at 1.00). GDP deflators are similar indexes which are applied to the Value-Added factors. These deflators are not used to create the Social Accounts or Multipliers but can be necessary for impact analysis.

Margins:A set of ratios applied to purchaser value that will convert sales to producer values. This is not used to create the Social Accounts or Multipliers but can be necessary for impact analysis.

Econometric Parameter for RPCs: An econometric equation for each Commodity, which can be used to estimate RPCs for those models where the Gravity Model based trade flows are not possible or desired. These would be used for Congressional District and Zip-Code models, or possibly for models that have been customized by the user.